(Utilized before retiring for the night of each day)
Blessed One, come to my assistance
O’ Lord, make haste to help me
Glory be to the Blessed Buddha and to the Divine Dharma and to the Hallowed Sangha, both now and forever and ever. Swaha.
Hymn to Samantabhadra (The Primordial Lord) [From The Lankavatarian Book of the Dead]:
Great Laud and supplication to the Wisdom Buddha Supreme
The Eternal Father of infinite and undivided salvific Unborn Light
The Clear-Light of His Dharmakaya—A blinding-flash to Darkened Samsaric minds
But a Darkness Visible who seek refuge in the Light of True Illumination
O’ seek refuge in the Universal Light That is beyond all understanding
Whose Pure Radiance frees and cleanses spirit from the defiled soil of Karma
His unparalleled Majesty outshines sun and moon
Measure beyond Measure in inconceivable Compassion
Myriad Buddhas and Bodhisattvas gather from the Ten Directions
Bearing great praise and honor on Triumphant Imageless Wings
That Bespeak the All-Glorious Hue bedecked with the Seven-fold Jewels Emanating from the Living Bodhi-Tree within the Sacred Heart of Suchness
Absolute One, in You is perfect Freedom Found
When all draw nigh unto your own True Body
There is Universal Mind and Spirit Bestowed
In this is perfect paradise, an undivided Kingdom of Nirvanic Self
Turn-forth thy Dharma-eye upon us
For True Faith is seeing through the Light of your Perfected Bodhi-seed
That is itself the potentiality of all that is Divine in You
Empower us to abide in that Deathless Light, with no more Kalpas to come
Dharani of the Victorious Buddha Crown
Adoration to the Blessed One who is the most excellent one in the triple world!
Adoration to the Enlightened One, to the Blessed One!
Namely:
Om! Cleanse [us], cleanse [us]! O one who is always impartial! One who, being in possession of all-pervading, all-illuminating light, is pure in his self-nature, cleansed of the darkness of the five paths of existence!
Baptize us, O Sugata, with an immortal baptism which consists of the best words, of the great true phrases!
Remove disasters, remove disasters, O one who holds an eternal life!
Cleanse us, cleanse us, O one who is as pure as the sky!
O one who is as pure as the victorious Buddha-crown!
O one who is inflamed with a thousand rays of light!
O all the Tathagatas who look over [the entire world]!
O one who is perfect in the Six Paramitas!
O one who holds the great seal empowered with the spiritual power which emanates from the heart of every Tathagata!
O one whose body is as hard and pure as Vajra!
O one who is thoroughly pure, cleansed of all impediments, all fears, and all the evil paths!
Turn us away [from evils] O one who enjoys a purified life!
O one who empowers us with [the power of] the original covenant! O jewel, jewel, the great jewel! O Suchness which is reality-limit and absolute purity!
O one who is pure in his evolved enlightenment!
Be victorious, be victorious, be ever victorious, be ever victorious!
Bear in mind, bear in mind!
O one who is pure being empowered by all Buddhas!
O Vajragarbha who holds the Vajra! Let my body be like Vajra! Let those of all beings too be like Vajra!
O one who is in possession of an absolutely pure body! O one who is absolutely pure from all the paths of existence! And let me be consoled by all the Tathagatas!
O one who is empowered with the consoling power of all the Tathagatas!
Be enlightened, be enlightened, be ever enlightened, be ever enlightened!
Have them enlightened, have them enlightened, have them ever enlightened, have them ever enlightened!
O one who is most pure in a most thoroughgoing way!
O one who holds a great seal empowered with the spiritual power which emanates from the heart of every Tathagata!
Hail!
[Of course the most meritorious means for dispelling the effects of evil influences is The Heart Sutra. Chanted daily by millions in the Buddhist milieu it serves as a mantra that diurnally reminds one of the efficaciousness of the very heart of Noble Wisdom]:
Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva,
when deeply practicing prajna-paramita,
clearly saw that the five skandas are all empty,
and was saved from all suffering and distress.
Sariputra,
form is no different to emptiness,
emptiness no different to form.
That which is form is emptiness,
that which is emptiness, form.
Sensations, perceptions, impressions, and consciousness
are also like this.
Sariputra,
all things and phenomena are marked by emptiness;
they are neither appearing nor disappearing,
neither impure nor pure,
neither increasing nor decreasing.
Therefore, in emptiness,
no forms, no sensations, perceptions, impressions, or
consciousness;
no eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, mind;
no sights, sounds, odors, tastes, objects of touch, objects of
mind;
no realm of sight and so on up to no realm of consciousness;
no ignorance and no end of ignorance,
and so on up to no aging and death,
and no end of aging and death;
no suffering, accumulation, cessation, or path;
no wisdom and no attainment.
With nothing to attain,
bodhisattvas
rely on prajna-paramita,
and their minds are without hindrance.
They are without hindrance,
and therefore without fear.
Far apart from all confused dreams,
they dwell in nirvana.
All buddhas of the past, present and future
rely on prajna-paramita,
and attain full, complete realization.
Therefore, know that prajna-paramita
is the great transcendent mantra,
the great bright mantra,
the supreme mantra,
the unequalled balanced mantra,
that can eliminate all suffering,
and is real, not false.
So proclaim the prajna-paramita mantra,
proclaim the mantra that says:
gate, gate,
paragate,
parasamgate,
bodhi, svaha!
Unborn Canticle
Now Blessed One
You let your servant go in peace
You have fulfilled your Divine Admonition
For we have seen the salvific Unborn Light
Which you have prepared in the minds of all sentient beings
A Luminosity that awakens us from darkness
And reveals the Bright Splendor of the Buddhadharma.
Glory be to the Blessed Buddha and to the Divine Dharma and to the
Hallowed Sangha, both now and forever and ever.
Swaha.
Hail Arya Tara, full of grace.
The Dharma Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among sentient beings,
and Blessed is the fruit of thy Bodhiwomb.
Holy Tara, Mother of all Buddhas,
pray for us transgressors,
now and at the hour of our
Transcendence over death.
Om Tare, Tuttare, Ture Swaha.
*The “Hail Arya Tara” is also best utilized as a walking mantra. The following is a large “dark yogi bodhi seed mala” that I employ when doing the walking-meditation; it has a nice red tassel and two old large brass counters. There are 108 large dark bodhi seed beads on the mala and each bodhi seed bead measures 9mm and the circumference of the mala is 33 inches long. It can be wrapped around the wrist (4x) when not in use. The brass counters that are on this mala has ten small brass beads on each counter plus a Vajra and Bell. The Vajra and Bell symbolizes method (Compassion) and wisdom (Prajñā). The wisdom is the gnosis that realizes the emptiness of Self-Realization and the method (upaya) is Compassion. When praying the Hail Arya Tara one continues praying it (on each individual bead) up to the 27th bead (Vajra Counter); then one switches the cadence and chants the Tara Mantra (Om Tare, Tuttare, Ture Swaha) (on each individual bead) up to the Bell Counter, then resumes the Hail Arya Tara for the remaining 27 beads. I purchased the mala three years ago from HandsofTibet.
“Hail, hail to you, O self who has manifested as this limitless universe. Hail to the self which is supreme peace. Hail to you, O self, who is beyond the reach of the scriptures. Hail to you, O self, who is the basis and the goal of all scriptures. Hail to you, O self, who is born and who dwells in all creatures. Hail to you, O self, who is unborn. Hail to you, O self, who undergoes change and destruction. Hail to you, O self, that is unchanging and indestructible. Hail to you, O self, that is existence: hail to you, O self, that is non-existence. Hail to you, O self, that is conquerable, that can be attained. Hail to you, O self, that is invincible and beyond reach.” – Maha-Ramayana, p.250, On Dissolution, Svami Venkatesananda transl.
Marvelous! Thank-you!